Hundreds of people have been detained at anti-corruption rallies in Moscow and St Petersburg, BBC News reports.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detained at his home ahead of the protests, according to his wife.

Thousands of supporters have heeded his call to take to the streets of Moscow and other Russian cities. OVD-Info, an independent NGO, told Russian media that 600 people had been detained at the Moscow protest. Police in Moscow say about 5,000 took part in the demonstration there, Interfax news agency reports. Russia's interior ministry says that about 3,500 people attended the protest in St Petersburg, and 500 were detained.

Navalny, who intends to stand for the Russian presidency next year, had been due to attend the unauthorised rally in central Moscow. Navalny called on Russians to take to the streets on Monday (June 12) - Russia Day - to express their anger at alleged corruption at the highest levels.

Navalny was earlier granted permission to hold a rally at Sakharova Avenue but changed the location - without permission - on the eve of the demonstration to Tverskaya Street, near the Kremlin. The protest was called over government plans to demolish Soviet-era apartment blocks in the city.

The protests coincided with a series of official events - including festivals, concerts and military enactments - taking place across the country to mark Russia Day, the national holiday dedicated to the 1990 declaration of sovereignty.

Similar rallies led by Navalny in March led to hundreds of arrests.

Those protests were the largest since 2012, drawing thousands of people - including many teenagers - to rallies nationwide, angered by a report published by Navalny that accused Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of corruption.